Stainless Steel Radiator and Heater hoses?

[73k5blazer]

Anyone have any experience with these? The actual Stainless Steel hose, not the overbraid dress up kit.

I bought them for a couple reasons,

1) they were on clearance at Summit, Reg $70 or so, they were selling them for $5 for the radiator hoses (2 req) and $12 for the heater hose set.

2) with me having to had move around the radiator mounting slightly, and the RamJet's weirdo water neck housing and heater inlet locations, with the serp kit installed and in the way, I wanted a hose I could bend to shape and keep it's shape and I really didn't like the flimsy rubber flex ones the auto parts store had, they flopped around alot.

So I saw these on the cheap and got them. I have some concerns with them though. They give you a rubber coupling to mate the stainless hose to your heater nipples, water neck...etc. So basically making 2 connections where if you used rubber hose directly over the nipple it would only be one connection, seems like it increases the chance of failure. I don't want an unreliable cooling system where a hose could pop off or start seeping at any time.

How's the stainless hose hold up over the long term I wonder too, with constant vibration at some of the joints, will it eventually crack? It *seems* like they hold up better than rubber hose, but I can also picture myself, you know take a piece of thinner metal and bend it back and forth really quick bunch of times, and you can break it. I kinda wonder if these are prone to that?
The hose itself is very similar to the yellow stainless steel gas lines you can buy for things like ovens, dryers, water heaters..etc.

They sure are on the bling too, I hate that. They had red, chrome, or blue. I choose blue.

I have to fab a couple support brackets for those yet too.

Are these good hoses or are they junk. If they turn out to be junk, they were still worth the $22 if for nothing else than to get a pattern to take to the store to find a rubber on that is bent similarly.

 

[Desert Rat]

I wonder how much heat is radiated from the metal versus a good hi-temp rubber hose? I am looking to replace mine and I may go with the SS braided ones. They say the silicon hoses are good but I have yet to find a company that does Blazer hoses. Most of the silicon ones are made for imports or American muscle cars...

 

[73k5blazer]

With the ribbed design of the metal hose, I Imagine, and they do infact advertise it as a selling point, they radiate more heat. I'm not sure that's a good thing or not for the motor compartment, but out trucks don't usally suffer from lack of underhood air flow! I am concerned with the heater hoses radiating too much heat in the winter, might diminish the heaters BTU output. Not good living in Michigan!
They could always be insulated with some sort of wrap I guess.

I couldn't find much in the way of the silicon hoses either. I wish I could, plus with the extra wide radiator I have and wierdo bends I have, I'd really have no choice but some sort of flex hose.

 

[dyeager535]

Hadn't heard of them before, but the vibration issue I'd *think* to not be that bad, as GM did the same with fuel lines. Solid steel, typically as short as possible rubber/braided connections.

Don't really like the idea of the extra connections, but the way my TPI water outlet is routed, a bendable "solid" line would certainly make me less worried that it's going to rub through.

 

[Blue85]

Maybe the rubber couplings help prevent things like electrolysis with the aluminum or brass. They also break the electrical connection. I suppose if the heater hoses were touching the frame or body, they could act as a ground strap. That's not necessarily a problem by itself, but it's usually best to have a known, consistent ground path.

How else do think they should connect? I wouldn't trust something like a muffler clamp.

 

[dyeager535]

He's simply talking about the fact that there are now 4 points of failure (two connections at each end) on each heater hose, doubling the chances that he has a leak somewhere, over the factory two connections.

They could have made them with at least the motor side one with the nipple as part of the tube, but that would probably have reduced the number of vehicles that it could be made to fit.

 

[73k5blazer]

Yep, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Instead of the hose going over the nipple and using 1 clamp, the metal hose goes into a rubber coupling, with a clamp there, then the rubber coupling slides over your heater core nipple, or water pump or manifold nipple. Essentially created 2 connections (2 clamps) where OEM is only 1.

I'd have a really tough time to get a regular heater hose to do the 90+ degree bend coming out of my water pump. The Ramjet manifold has a big buldged protrusion center front, like catiilevered out past the front of the block about 1". and the hole in the top/back of the water pump points right to it thus making that a horrid bend for a regular heater hose. They do make some pre-molded heater hoses with a 90* bends, but the ones I could find were not near long enough for our trucks so I'd have to couple it anyway to an extension.

I'll give these a try and see how they work.

 

[dyeager535]

Have you talked about your setup before? Could you run a water fitting out the front of the intake (pressure side) and into the radiator (return)? No idea how the Ramjet base is setup. How about the back of the intake? Heater hose fitting there that could be used?

I had to find a 90* fitting, as the pressure side in the TPI is the front of the intake, and the return is in the radiator.

 

[73k5blazer]

I have an aftermarket Flex-A-Lite radiator, it doens't have a return inlet on it, sadly, that would have simplified things.
The RamJet has 2 places for the heater hose to hook to. ! is sticking straight up in the front of the manifold, but it so close to the fuel rail and riser you basically can't use it for anything, but I did manage to get a sensor in there for my stock temp gauge, no way to get any sort of fitting on that for a heater hose though, to big to screw it in.

The other place is right in front of it, but sticks stright out the front of the manifold, so I put a 90 degree fitting on that. The only place I know of to return it to is the water pump fitting which because the bulge in the front of the manifold, I had to put a 45 degree fitting on that (and I had to pull the water pump to do that!), just so I can get any kind of hose on there. Then because of the very close proximity of the front manifold fitting and the water pump fitting, it's rather a fight to get 2 hoses down in there and connect up. I could have turned the 90 on the water pump towards the drivers side and routed the hose up and all the way around over to that, but that seems like a big waste and looks convuluted.

This guy here has great pics of the RamJet going into his international:

I used the front manifold fitting there shown with the red cover, with a 90 degree fitting pointing up and slightly to the passenger side, then the water pump I put another 90degree fitting there. If you look closely there that whole section of manifold that the water neck is sitting on is sitting on a ledge out over the front of the block, that straight fitting he's got in there, I tried that as well, it about a fingers width from the edge of the manifold, so I had no choice but to put a 45degree in there.

Here's mine:

 

[73k5blazer]

And here's a close up of them going down in there:
You can see the other provided location there under the throttle actuator where I was able to put a stock temp gauge sensor.

Click for full res version:

 

[dyeager535]

Yes, looks like the TPI setup is pretty similar, except the thermostat housing is off to the side, thus no bulge. Temp fittings there though. The outlet port is near identical in location it seems.

Even with the 90* fitting on it, still a bit trickey to clear my alternator bracketry, I can't imagine what it would be like if the other hose went to the water pump.

 

[73k5blazer]

The stock water pump had the fitting on the top of the water pump pointed more towards the passenger side. This reverse rotation pump that came in the GM Kit has it pointing more straight back than to the side which coupled with the RamJet manifold bulge there really pimps an installer for hose routing.